Schloss Heiligenberg (Jugenheim)

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Schloss Heiligenberg is a castle just east of Jugenheim, in the Seeheim-Jugenheim area, about 12 kilometers south of Darmstadt, Germany. It sits on the Heiligenberg and offers wide views across the Rhineland to the Palatinate. Today it houses the Amt für Lehrerbildung, and its Gartensaal is sometimes used for concerts and art exhibitions.

A castle was built on the Heiligenberg in the early 1800s. An extension was added by Grand Duchess Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt and her son, Prince Alexander, between 1862 and 1867, designed by Georg Moller. Alexander (1823–1888), the third son of Grand Duke Louis II, lived mainly in Darmstadt or at Schloss Heiligenberg from 1852, except when on campaign. On 28 October 1851 he married Countess Julia Hauke, a lady-in-waiting to his sister, Tsarina Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, in a morganatic union. Alexander and Julia founded the Battenberg/Mountbatten family line. Because of the royal connections, the Schloss regularly hosted the Russian Tsar and his family as well as many other kings, princes, and diplomats until 1914.